


Paws for Effect

by KamuSusanoo



Category: Cardfight!! Vanguard
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-28
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-24 22:18:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10750923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KamuSusanoo/pseuds/KamuSusanoo
Summary: Ren's Cat has gone missing!! Can a chance encounter with a former rival help him find his missing friend??





	Paws for Effect

**Author's Note:**

> Originally uploaded to Tumblr 7/1/2013- unedited from it's orginal form, formatting may be off   
> Written for a friend who asked for soft RenAi

The sun streamed through light crimson shades that danced in the light breeze. It was late summer, in a few days time, the VF Circuit Hong Kong stage would start, but it was of no concern to the boy sitting in the sunlight with a single Cardfight!! Vanguard card sitting face down before him.

“Stand Up, The Vanguard!” Ren Suzugamori chuckled as he flipped the card in front of him over. “Black Dragon Whelp, Vortimer! Now, you go, Aoi-Chan.”

 

A chubby tan Siamese cat glared back at the boy, large blue eyes glaring at his owner's red. It let out a soft noise and closed it's eyes. His owner pouted. “Come on, Aoi-Chan, you're no fun. How else am I supposed to teach you how to play if you don't put effort into it!?” Aoi-Chan gave his owner a glance of equal parts boredom and annoyance. “Hmmm,” Ren closed his eyes in thought, “I know. You're just hungry. Sit tight while I get you something.” The boy stood up, and with a swish of his black half skirt and deep red hair, he vanished into the hall.

Aoi-chan let out a soft mew and stood up from the floor. The breeze danced across his fur, causing the cat to let out a small shiver. The card he had laid on fell off of his stomach, attached there by the cat's weight combined with it's previous desire to not move, and landed face up. Greedy Hand. In all honesty, Ren had snuck Tetsu's deck when he hadn’t been looking, and hoped he wouldn't mind that he was using the Dark Irregulars to teach his cat how to play Vanguard, but that wasn't Aoi-Chan's concern. What was his concern was a faint smell of fish from outside. With all the grace expected of a cat, Aoi-Chan jumped from floor to chair, chair to windowsill, and windowsill to the great outdoors. All that remained of the cat was a faint echo of the bell on it's neck and a second cat in shed fur on the floor.

Ren stepped gingerly into the room, walking almost solely on his toes. “I hope you don't mind, Aoi-Chan, but we were out of your food, so I brought you some of last night's left,” Ren looked up and noticed the distinct lack of his large feline companion, “... overs.... Aoi-chan!” His forehead wrinkled with concern. “Asuka! Have you seen Aoi-Chan!?” He ran into the hallway to the front door, not even waiting for a response from The Assassin.

The favor he was asked was really NOT as complicated as his sense of direction, or rather his lack there of, made it. Misaki had asked him the-not-so-complex task of headed down town and picking up some things that Shin had ordered and paid for while he finished checking the travel arrangements for their trip to the next Stage, and she tended the shop, giving Miwa a much needed break from managing Morikawa.

Aichi Sendo let out a small, almost whimper-like sigh. He was hopelessly lost and couldn't bring himself to call anyone for a way out. Emi would never let him hear the end of it. Misaki would be busy at the shop. Kai never answered his phone.

He scouted out a near by bench with his bright, blue eyes. Months ago they seemed clouded, diluted by a lack of confidence and a deep self-doubt. But much had changed in those short months, and they now glittered like the clear sky above him. He pulled down a pair of white cupped headphones and paused his music player. Maybe if he had payed more attention to the street signs than to what track was next? It was too late for him to consider such details at any rate.

Aichi opened his phone and took a check at the time. Half past one. He groaned again. It was getting hot. His legs hurt. He told himself he'd get back to walking after a quick break.

“Excuse me, sir?” he heard an incredibly familiar voice ask to someone near by, “have you seen this cat?”

“I can't say I have, sorry.”

 

“It's alright...” the voice was notably disappointed.

Aichi turned to the source. Ren Suzugamori was bouncing from passerby to passerby, flashing a picture on his phone and asking the same question, noticeably stressed. Aichi felt a small pang in his chest as he called out his rival's name. “Ren!”

Ren looked around confused for a moment, his red hair flipping back and forth, nearly blocking his view of his blue haired compatriot. “Aichi!” Ren yelled in return, making a b-line for the bench. “You don't live around here, and you're miles from Card Capital. What brings you here?” Ren cocked his head to the side and placed his left hand on his own cheek. He can't say he wasn't unhappy to see the boy here.

“I, um, I'm running some favors for Misaki.” It wasn't a total lie at any rate.

“Oh, is Missy with you?”

“No, she's with the shop,” he said shaking his head. “What are you doing? I heard you asking about a cat?”

Ren's concern returned as he sat beside Aichi on the bench. “My darling Aoi-chan went missing while I was teaching him how to play Vanguard!” he lamented. He showed Aichi the picture of the tan and black cat with eyes as blue as Sendo's own.

“You were... teaching your cat to play Vanguard?” Aichi giggled at the though.

“I need new opponents if I want to stay sharp.”

Aichi nodded. “Sit here for a second, you need something to drink.” He returned momentarily with two bottles of water, sweating from the heat as much as the boy carrying them. “There aren't a lot of vending machines around here, even though there’s so many people.”

“And none of them have seen Aoi-Chan.” Ren looked donwcast at the prospect of his pet never returning to him. Aichi shifted his weight between his feet for a moment.

“How about... how about I help you look?” He asked.

Ren's expression brightened as he lept from his seat. “You would!? Oh, Aichi! That would be the most wonderful thing anyone could do right now!” He wrapped the boy in an tight embrace. “You're my hero right now, Aichi.”

 

Aichi blushed and let out a small laugh. “T-thanks”

“But what about your errand?? Won't Missy be mad if you're late?”

“I'm sure she'll understand.” Aichi smiled. He could only get later, anyway.

Ren broke the embrace and held tightly to Aichi's sleeve. “Come on, he has to be somewhere.”

Aichi followed in short step behind Ren, having to pace himself in time with his eager friend. He was enjoying himself, his smile showed as much. Ren's face was still wrinkled with concern, but something still glowed in his eyes. Nothing like the old light that used to shake Aichi to the core, but a shine of enjoyment.

 

Was it his excitement for the cat search or...?

Ren took them along twists and turns in the streets, stopping occasionally to show people the picture and hoping for a lead. With every person who couldn't give him a hint, his disappointment grew, as did the tightness on the grip of Aichi's sleeve. Desperation and depression eventually overtook the red head, and he fell to his knees in the middle of an ally way.

“Aichi, what am I going to do if I can't find him? Aoi-chan's my precious baby, I do everything with him. He's one of the most important things in the world to me.”

Aichi placed his hand on Ren's shoulder. “Don't worry,” he smiled, “He'll turn up. Cats like having their freedom, you know?” He looked around. “We're close to my house. Why don't we go in and cool off for a while. It's getting late and you've been on your feet all day.”

Ren nodded slowly and pulled himself back up.

Aichi's house was less than a block away.

Ren fiddled with the buttons on his phone while Aichi fumbled with his house keys. It'd been a while since he'd had anyone over to the house, and even then it was Izaki and Morikawa. Ren was a different story all together. He pushed open the door.

“Mom, I'm home. We have company.”

“Oh, is it those nice boys from last time?” his mom's voice came from the kitchen.

“No, mom, it's my... uh... friend, Ren.”

“Hello, Mrs. Sendou.” Ren chimed, despite not being able to see the woman.

“We'll be in my room for a while, I'll eat dinner after he leaves, so set some aside for me!” Aichi ran up the stairs before his mom could reply, Ren following in lock step. Aichi lead him down the hall and in seconds, they stood in Aichi's room.

 

“It's quaint. Very you,” Ren noted as he looked around. Low decorations, a simple desk, a simple bed. “I pictured it would be something like this,” he said as he flopped on to Aichi's bed, wrinkling the crisp blue sheets he had put on that morning.

“Thank you?” he asked, not knowing exactly how to take the words from Ren's mouth. He put his deck in the desk drawer, where he housed it when he was home and he wasn't looking at it, and put his phone on the desk above, 'Eleven texts from Misaki, I'm in trouble.' He turned his attention to Ren who had put his phone on the table beside Aichi's bed and was laying comfortably facing him. “Comfortable?”

“Very,” he yawned.

Aichi walked over and sat on the foot of the bed. Ren smiled and sat up next to him. “I want to thank you, for everything you did today,” he placed his left hand around his friend's back and rested it on Aichi's at his side. “We weren't able to find Aoi-chan, but I'm not worried about him now, I'm sure he's safe.”

Aichi had turned a shade of red brighter than Ren's hair, “It w-was nothing, honest,” he stuttered.

Ren pulled him down on the mattress and nuzzled his nose into the nape of Aichi's neck. “You're so modest, you know? You could afford t...o b..e.... mo..r...” Ren's words trailed off into the soft, even breathing of sleep. He held an unbreakable grip on Aichi's waist, so the boy gave up struggling.

Ren was warm, it was nice there. Something he could get used to. One final thought crossed his mind, he reached for Ren's phone and dialed the first number in the contacts list.

 

“REN!” Asaka's voice came from the other line, “Tetsu and I have been worried sick, where have you been? Your cat's been meowing at your door for hours!”

“Um, Asaka, this is-”

“Who is this, you're not Ren! Wait, I know that voice, you're Aichi Sendou! Why do you have Ren-”

Aichi cut the call. That was a little much for him to take. He placed one hand on Ren's and closed his eyes, allowing Ren's soft breathing to lull him to sleep.


End file.
